THIS PAPER IS based on current WEDC research on small
water enterprises (SWEs), whose purpose is to identify and
test constraints, opportunities and strategies for enabling
small water-providing enterprises to deliver an acceptable
water service to poor urban consumers. The paper provides
some background and brief information on utilities and
SWEs, and outlines typical constraints faced by SWEs in
their operations. The paper then looks at the rationale for
developing viable mechanisms through which water utilities
could form mutually beneficial partnerships with SWEs
for the benefit of customers, and explores potential opportunities
and interventions that can enable SWEs to provide
affordable good quality water services to customers while
at the same time providing benefit to the water utilities. The
aim of the proposed Utility-SWE partnerships is to improve
water services to customers in informal urban settlements
of developing countries, while meeting the objectives of
water utilities and SWEs.